The reader polls so far: a summary of the results

The chart below summarizes the reader poll conducted over the past month or so--all got between 1200 and 1700 responses, roughly. Readers can scroll through to find the precise wording, but in each case there were five choices: a "central, foundational" part of the discipline; a major area of research; "useful when" either integrated with pertinent sciences (e.g., metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, language, mind) or integrated with contemporary philosophcial questions (e.g.,. logic, history).

Area/Opinion

Central, foundational

Major research area

Useful when…

Minor area

(Dismissive option)

Metaphysics

29%

21%

21%

8%

20%

Epistemology

56%

14%

13%

3%

15%

Philosophy of Language

31%

21%

21%

7%

21%

Philosophy of Mind

34%

25%

28%

5%

8%

Ethics (theoretical, not applied)

54%

22%

11%

4%

9%

History of Philosophy

55%

25%

12%

6%

2%

Logic

51%

12%

23%

5%

9%

Judging from hiring patterns, it would seem that top-ranked PhD programs take a different view of what is central and foundational than the readership as a whole--not surprising, given that the readership is much broader than faculty and grad students at top PGR departments. What do readers make of the results? (I'll be running some more polls, on more specialized sub-fields [e.g., X-phil, phenomenology, feminist philosophy etc.] soon.)

Because I am on the road, comments may take awhile to appear--please post them only once.

Comments

The reader polls so far: a summary of the results

The chart below summarizes the reader poll conducted over the past month or so--all got between 1200 and 1700 responses, roughly. Readers can scroll through to find the precise wording, but in each case there were five choices: a "central, foundational" part of the discipline; a major area of research; "useful when" either integrated with pertinent sciences (e.g., metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, language, mind) or integrated with contemporary philosophcial questions (e.g.,. logic, history).

Area/Opinion

Central, foundational

Major research area

Useful when…

Minor area

(Dismissive option)

Metaphysics

29%

21%

21%

8%

20%

Epistemology

56%

14%

13%

3%

15%

Philosophy of Language

31%

21%

21%

7%

21%

Philosophy of Mind

34%

25%

28%

5%

8%

Ethics (theoretical, not applied)

54%

22%

11%

4%

9%

History of Philosophy

55%

25%

12%

6%

2%

Logic

51%

12%

23%

5%

9%

Judging from hiring patterns, it would seem that top-ranked PhD programs take a different view of what is central and foundational than the readership as a whole--not surprising, given that the readership is much broader than faculty and grad students at top PGR departments. What do readers make of the results? (I'll be running some more polls, on more specialized sub-fields [e.g., X-phil, phenomenology, feminist philosophy etc.] soon.)

Because I am on the road, comments may take awhile to appear--please post them only once.